See Page 1 |
2 | of the January 2025 homepage archives. Friday the 31st
 It is Friday when this is being posted,
so that makes it a good day for these three new
electronics-themed comics. They come from a 1967 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine, so the scenarios are a bit outdated. However, even if you didn't live
during the era or have not read much about what the hottest topics and concerns
of the era were, you can still appreciate the humor. As recently as the 1990s and
early 2000s there were still a fair number of computer and electronics repair services
around, so even Gen Z'ers might remember them, and certainly Millennials (aka
Gen Y) . By 1967, vacuum tubes were disappearing from the repair scene as radio
and TV owners...
 Sam Benzacar, of Anatech Electronics, an
RF and microwave filter company, has published his January 2025 newsletter that,
along with timely news items, features his short op-ed entitled "Wi-Fi
8 Is Coming, and It's All About Reliability," which discusses the major improvement
in data speed and reliability over all previous versions. The Wi-Fi Alliance predicts
a 10x growth in wireless connectivity from now until 2028. Automatic arbitration
between Wi-Fi zones for power levels, sub-channel assignments, and traffic handling,
is intended to deal with an increasingly dense operational environment. Wi-Fi operations
are nowadays conducted in both fixed and mobile scenarios where signal coexistence
requirements are continually changing not just from dynamic multipath conditions
due to reflections, but from constantly changing Wi-Fi bases station locations.
Incredibly sophisticated mathematics are required to implement the schemes.
 "A
new era in computing is emerging as researchers overcome the limitations of Moore's
Law through
photonics. This cutting-edge approach boosts processing speeds and slashes energy
use, potentially revolutionizing AI and machine learning applications. For decades,
computer and smartphone circuits have steadily become smaller and more powerful,
following the trend known as Moore's Law. However, this era of consistent progress
is nearing its end due to physical limits, such as the maximum number of transistors..."
 This
news suggests that nobody has been tracking the flight trajectory of the
Tesla Roadster which Elon Musk launched into solar orbit on February 6, 2018.
"On Jan. 2, the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced the discovery of an unusual asteroid, designated
2018 CN41. First identified and submitted by a citizen scientist, the object's orbit
was notable: It came less than 150,000 miles from Earth, closer than the orbit of
the Moon. That qualified it as a near-Earth object - one worth monitoring for its
potential to someday slam into Earth. But less than 17 hours later, the Minor Planet
Center issued an editorial notice: It was deleting 2018 CN41 from its records because,
it turned out, the object was not an asteroid. It was a car..."
 Dr. Allen Du Mont played a huge
role in making television practical because of the improvements he made to the cathode
ray tube (CRT). Prior to his work, the lifespan of a CRT was measured in tens of
hours, and they were expensive, so their use was limited to special military and
research applications. Du Mont's interest in "wireless" began at an early age,
and he earned his commercial radio operator's license at the age of 14 (in 1915).
He designed and produced oscillographs (aka oscilloscopes) that incorporated his
CRTs. His involvement in the television industry was a natural evolution and extension
of the work done in related industries...
• Wireless Telecom
>2
Billion 5G Connections
• Top 10
Supply Chain Trends for 2025
• Hong Kong
Carriers
Secure 6/7 GHz Spectrum
• Trump Threatens
Taiwan with Semiconductor Tariffs
• Chip Training
Upscales Low-Income Workers
Thursday the 30th
 With as much ink as was used in reporting
on this "Major Antenna Breakthrough?" item in the July 1967 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine, it could have qualified as a feature story. The breakthrough is an active
antenna, dubbed a
Subminiature Integrated Antenna (SIA), with amplifying transistors in series
with the radial elements. This hookup makes practical, it is claimed, to reduce
antenna length from 1/4 to 1/50 wavelength and still have reasonable signal pickup.
A TV or FM receiver version could be 2 or 3 inches long. Half a year later the magazine
had an SIA article entitled "Build a Mini-Tenna," which operated in the 88-108 MHz
FM radio band. There does not seem to have been a widespread...
 I tend to be a traditionalist for most things,
but do not go out of my way to make trouble for other people who don't appreciate
the way things are and have been... as long as, per Thomas Jefferson, "It neither
picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." In other words, if your actions cause me no
financial or physical harm, I'm not likely to oppose your actions - unless they're
illegal. Many older Hams are greatly offended at the FCC for having removed the
Morse code requirement in 2005 for obtaining an amateur radio operator's license.
They see it as a way to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak; that is
to say, to maintain a barrier that keeps non-serious aspirants from gaining entry
into the ranks of the elite...
 "In recent years, electronics engineers
worldwide have been trying to develop new hardware that could further boost the
speed and efficiency of wireless communications. Digitally programmable metasurfaces,
advanced artificial materials engineered to manipulate the properties of electromagnetic
waves, have been found to be particularly promising for the transmission of wireless
data. A key advantage of these artificial materials is that they could transmit
wireless data more efficiently, without relying on conventional digital-to-analog
conversion processes. Despite their potential, many
metasurface-based antennas have so far achieved underwhelming..."
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite
Technologies Handbook
 Rohde & Schwarz, one of the industries'
most prolific and trusted manufacturers of high technology test equipment, is please
to make available at no cost their new
Satellite Technologies handbook. Both the hard copy Pocket Guide and the downloadable
PDF eGuide versions are short compendiums on the subject of satellite technology
with definitions, explanations, formulas and diagrams. It is authored by Dr. Marco
Krondorf, who studied information system technology at TU Dresden in Germany. His
research interests were mainly mobile multicarrier systems and the stochastic modeling
of HF distortion effects. This 58-page document begins with a Satellite Overview,
covering topics like orbital types, ground path, inclination, common frequencies,
and services. The next section addresses Satellite Communications...
 Since talk of returning to a gold standard
for monetary policy has been in the news lately, I asked ChatGPT, "How
would returning to a gold standard affect inflation and the stock market?" Then,
I asked, "Historically, how has the U.S. economy performed while on the gold standard
versus while off the gold standard?" Its responses appear to be free of any philosophical
bias. Returning to the gold standard would significantly impact inflation and the
stock market due to the fundamental changes it would bring to monetary policy, currency
valuation, and economic dynamics. Under a gold standard, the value of currency is
tied to a fixed amount of gold. This system inherently limits the amount of money
that can be printed, as it must be backed...
 TotalTemp Technologies has more than 40
years of combined experience providing thermal platforms.
Thermal Platforms are
available to provide temperatures between -100°C and +200°C for cryogenic cooling,
recirculating & circulating coolers, temperature chambers and temperature controllers,
thermal range safety controllers, space simulation chambers, hybrid benchtop chambers,
custom systems and platforms. Manual and automated configurations for laboratory
and production environments. Please contact TotalTemp Technologies today to learn
how they can help your project.
Wednesday the 29th
 Edmund Brown created a handful of these
"R-E
Crossword Puzzler" challenges for Radio-Electronics magazine. They
are akin to crossword puzzles, except that all the clues and words are Across (no
Down). Each row shares a letter with the adjacent row, so all but the top and bottom
rows share two letters, which are provided by Mr. Brown. These are pretty easy,
but occasionally the inclusion of a somewhat outdated word makes it a bit more difficult.
You will probably be able to whip right through this one; there is only one word
that might cause some head scratching if you are not a regular reader of RF Cafe
articles...
 Just as you will never get everyone to agree
on who was the first person to successfully fly a powered aircraft (Wright vs. Whitehead
vs. Curtiss vs. Gustave, etc.), there will never be a consensus on
who invented the radio. Most people would probably agree that it was Guglielmo
Marconi, but this author makes a case in the October 1970 issue of Popular Electronics
magazine for none other than
Thomas Edison. I don't recall ever hear anyone making that claim before, but
before you dismiss the opinion, read on...
 Companies come and go all the time. I have
long lamented the selling off of well-known, bedrock
companies which were founded and built up in the U.S. (aka America), using American
material and personnel resources. No doubt people in every country have this sort
of nostalgic perspective. Those of us who have been around for more than half a
century have watched as companies like Westinghouse, divisions of General Electric,
IBM computers, RCA, Bell Telephone Labs, parts of Motorola, all or parts of major
telecommunications companies, Lucent, Texas Instruments were sold off to the highest
foreign bidder...
 PCB Directory is the Internet's largest,
worldwide compilation of
PCB Assembly (PCBA) service providers. Narrow down on printed circuit board
assembly companies by country, state and their capabilities like: Order Type, Assembly
Type, PCB Sides, Testing, Soldering Type, Package Type, Industries. We have listed
the leading Printed Circuit Board manufacturers around the world and made them searchable
by their location and their capabilities. If you are a PCB Manufacturer and would
like to add your company to this directory, simply click on the link...
 Before the advent of electrical distribution
systems and electronics, the hazard of lightning was primarily from fire ignition
and, to a lesser extent, bodily injury. In fact, it was Benjamin Franklin's discovery
that lightning was a form of electricity that led to his subsequent invention of
the
lightning rod system that, after being installed on Philadelphia's tallest wooden
structures, significantly reduced the incident of lightning-related devastating
fires which had been ravaging the city for years. Once cities began installing electric
power lines, they were to lightning what trailer homes are to tornadoes - strong
attractors. Line protection systems were soon developed to help stop strikes which
sometimes caused electrocution...
Tuesday the 28th
 In November of 1963, when this "News
Briefs" column appeared in Radio-Electronics magazine, the world was
in frenzied competition to be "the first" in scores of technical realms, from radio
and television, home entertainment, deep space and planetary exploration, transportation,
medical equipment, and industrial mechanism, to name a few. The U.S. emerged from
World War II as the dominating force, but other countries did not sit idly
by without meaning to develop and assert their own capabilities - to the benefit
of everyone, ultimately. "New TV Sees the Invisible" exploits...
 "Stanford researchers have uncovered a new
material,
niobium phosphide, that surpasses copper in electrical conductivity when fashioned
into ultrathin films. This breakthrough could revolutionize the efficiency and performance
of future electronics by alleviating the limitations posed by traditional metal
wires in nanoscale circuits. As computer chips become ever smaller and more complex,
the ultrathin metallic wires that transmit electrical signals within them are emerging
as a critical bottleneck. Traditional metal wires, like copper, lose their efficiency
at conducting electricity as they become thinner, ultimately restricting the size,
performance, and energy efficiency of nanoscale..."
 The concept of
dark matter has become one of the most significant and perplexing components
of modern astrophysics and cosmology, representing the unseen matter that makes
up a substantial portion of the universe's mass. The origins of the dark matter
hypothesis date back to the early 20th century. In 1933, the Swiss astrophysicist
Fritz Zwicky observed the Coma galaxy cluster and calculated its mass using both
its luminous matter and the velocities of its galaxies. Zwicky found that the visible
matter was insufficient to account for the gravitational forces holding the cluster
together. He called this unseen mass "dunkle Materie," or dark matter...
 On behalf of the conference organizing committee,
it is our great pleasure to invite you to join us in the beautiful city of Ottawa,
Canada from July 13 to 18, 2025, for the
2025 IEEE
International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science
Meeting at the Rogers Centre Ottawa. From antenna design and analysis to electromagnetic
theory, wireless communication systems to remote sensing, and beyond, we will explore
the pioneering research and applications that are shaping the future of this important
field. The symposium is co-sponsored by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society,
the Canadian National Committee, and the US National Committee of the International
Union of Radio Science. The Symposium will feature a diverse range of keynote speeches...
 You don't see jobs advertisements like this
anymore. Here is an ad that appeared in the the July 1944 edition of QST
(the American Radio Relay League's, ARRL's, monthly magazine), placed by Raytheon
Manufacturing Company (now just Raytheon Company), looking for
vacuum
tube design, test, and processing engineers. Licensed amateur radio operators
were in high demand during the war years because of their knowledge and enthusiasm
for electronics and wireless communications. I hope you didn't come to this page
hoping to really find a tube designer job available. Of course, there are still
vacuum tubes being designed for TWTs and magnetrons, but those are few and far between...
Monday the 27th
 The December 1962 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine contained five
electronics-themed comics. I've seen as many as six in one edition, but two
or three is the norm. The page 34 comic is typical of those picking fun at the brainiac
type research scientist. Anyone who has just finished reassembling a complex piece
of equipment and then realized a part had been left out will relate to the page
63 comic. Two of them play off the common-at-the-time theme of the love / hate relationship
people had with television repairmen. Finally, the one on page 111 reflects a major
fad in that era of people with their fancy home audio systems. I took the liberty
of coloring...
 An electronic stacking technique has the
potential to exponentially boost the number of transistors on chips, paving the
way for more efficient AI hardware. The electronics industry is approaching a limit
to the number of transistors that can be packed onto the surface of a computer chip.
So, chip manufacturers are looking to build up rather than out. Instead of squeezing
ever-smaller transistors onto a single surface, the industry is aiming to
stack multiple surfaces of transistors and semiconducting elements - akin to
turning a ranch house into a high-rise. Such multilayered chips could handle exponentially
more data...
 Albert Wallace Hull was born on April 19,
1880, in Southington, Connecticut, to Charles Hull and Ellen Wallace Hull. His upbringing
was shaped by a rural setting, where he developed a strong work ethic and an early
interest in scientific inquiry. His childhood experiences in a small-town environment
imbued him with a sense of curiosity about the natural world, which would later
fuel his passion for science and engineering. He was one of several siblings, though
details about his brothers and sisters remain sparse in historical records. Hull's
academic journey began at the nearby public schools, where his aptitude for mathematics
and the sciences...
 Exodus Advanced Communications, is a multinational
RF communication equipment and engineering service company serving both commercial
and government entities and their affiliates worldwide. Exodus'
AMP4071P-1KW pulse amplifier is designed for pulse, EMC/EMI Mil-Std 461 and
pulse radar applications, with 1 kW in the 4.0 to 6.0 GHz band. Provides
superb pulse fidelity up to 100 μsec pulse widths. Duty cycles to 10% with
a minimum 60 dB gain. Available monitoring parameters for Forward/Reflected
power in watts and dBm, VSWR, voltage, current, temperature sensing for outstanding
reliability and ruggedness in a compact 5U chassis...
 If you read the physics and geographic news
of the day, most likely you have seen articles on the rapidly increasing
migration rate of the geomagnetic "north pole" over the past few decades. Magnetic
north has never exactly lined up with geometric north (as borne out in geological
samples of rocks), and neither has it ever been uniformly distributed across the
globe. Ancient explorers on terra firma and at sea knew that a magnetic compass
needle did not align with the same stars, moon, or sun position for every location,
after accounting for difference in longitude. That is because the earth's magnetic
field is very nonuniform in strength and does not follow straight lines from pole
to pole as they more generally do from outer space. A correction (aka declination)
factor...
 Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative
and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all over the world. Copper
Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor
Vector Network Analyzers
include an RF measurement module and a software application which runs on any Windows
PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware via USB interface.
The result is a lower cost, faster, more effective test process that fits into the
modern workspace in lab, production, field and secure testing environments. 50 Ω
and 75 Ω models are available, along with a full line of precision calibration
and connector adaptors.
Friday the 24th
 These two
circuit puzzlers appeared in the April 1966 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine. When working out the problems, I managed to interpret the goal in the
"Two Currents" one. Despite the name, I instead solved for the two values of resistance,
not the two currents. So as not to have wasted my effort, a photo of it is posted
to the left. At the bottom of it, I multiplied my two resistances by the author's
two currents and arrived at the stated 2 watts for each. QED. The "Rise Time" challenge
is similar to one posted a short while ago. If you've used an oscilloscope to measure
rise times, you are probably familiar with the phenomenon...
 Dark energy is one of the most profound
and enigmatic concepts in modern cosmology, embodying the mystery of the accelerated
expansion of the universe. Its origins trace back to the early 20th century when
Albert Einstein introduced the concept of the cosmological constant, represented
by the Greek letter Lambda (Λ), in his equations of General Relativity. Einstein
initially formulated this constant to balance the force of gravity and achieve a
static universe, which was the prevailing cosmological model at the time. However,
after Edwin Hubble's discovery in 1929 that the universe was expanding, Einstein
reportedly dismissed...
 Anatech Electronics will be participating
at the 4th annual UAV Technology USA conference, taking place in Arlington, VA,
on February 3-4, 2025, showcasing some of its products used in UAV projects. Present
your system challenges, such as performance needed, interference problems, or a
project that requires RF filtering. We will address those challenges and present
some solutions. Our technical staff will be available to answer any questions you
might have. About
UAV Technology USA Conference 2025: The premier event for unmanned aerial systems
in modern warfare. Bringing together top military leaders, international allies,
and industry experts, the conference offers valuable insights, discussions, and
the latest UAV technology advancements through briefings and panels.
• Parents Pressured to
Buy Young Children Smartphones
• Job
Seekers Targeted by Mobile Phishing
• FCC Clarifies
Satellite System Spectrum Sharing Rules
• Europe Is the
Top Target for Hacktivists
• Qorvo
RF Front-End Module for Wi-Fi 7
 This is the first of a two-part "Radar
Principles" article by British engineer and researcher Dr. R.L. Smith-Rose.
It appeared in the April 1945 issue of Radio-Craft magazine. Dr. Smith-Rose explains
the basics of radio detection and ranging using simple illustrations and calculation
examples. When these articles were written, radar had recently been credited with
playing a major role in helping the Allies successfully wage war against aggressive
Axis powers that were ravaging London and other European cities with air attacks
comprised of both manned and unmanned vehicles. While the principles...
 LadyBug Technologies was founded in 2004
by two microwave engineers with a passion for quality microwave test instrumentation.
Our employees offer many years experience in the design and manufacture of the worlds
best vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, power meters and associated components.
The management team has additional experience in optical power testing, military
radar and a variety of programming environments including LabVIEW, VEE and other
languages often used in programmatic systems. Extensive experience in a broad spectrum
of demanding measurement applications. You can be assured that our Power Sensors
are designed, built, tested and calibrated without compromise.
Thursday the 23rd
 Dr. Albert W. Hull, whose passing is
noted in this 1966 Radio-Electronics
News Briefs section, is credited with the invention of the dynatron, thyratron,
and magnetron high power radio frequency (RF) oscillators. He worked for many years
at the General Electric Research Laboratory (GERL) and held 94 patents - not bad
for a guy who started out as a Greek scholar. Also announced by Radio Corporation
of America (RCA) was a "sun-pumped" communications laser for future use on deep
space exploration craft. Note how at the time the universe was deemed to be "some
billions" of years old since the Big Bang, now believed to be 13.787±0.020 billion
years. That implies an uncertainty...
 When this was originally posted, it was
the Friday before Christmas vacation and nobody was thinking about work. Maybe you
were stopping by RF Cafe to kill time until the boss let you go home (early, preferably).
Not that you really have needed something to get you in a festive mood, but here
are a few funny
amateur radio-themed (aka Ham-themed) comics from a 1966 issue of Popular
Electronics magazine, compliments of artist Buz Holland. When I saw the comic
with the parrot squawking CQ while including his call sign - WA4YKK - my first thought
was to check the FCC's UULS to see to whom...
 "Xiao Su, a chemical engineering professor
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told EE Times that a team he
leads has developed a process to
remove PFAS chemicals from the chipmaking process.. However, chipmakers who
could use his help are not sharing information with him. PFAS substances are toxic
chemicals that accumulate in the tissues of humans and are used widely in the semiconductor
industry. The 'forever chemicals' that have become widespread in the environment
are difficult to isolate and destroy. Chipmakers..."
 BroadWave Technologies has developed a 50 Ω,
UHF band power divider to support commercial wireless communications, defense, homeland
security, and public safety systems. Model 151-308-008 is an
8 way power divider with SMA female connectors. This device operates from 500
to 3000 MHz and exhibits typical isolation of 25 dB. Nominal insertion
loss above theoretical split at 3000 MHz is 1.5 dB and maximum VSWR is
1.50:1 In addition to power dividers with SMA female connectors we also offer power
divider with BNC, N, and TNC connectors...
 Collins Radio Company (later on Rockwell
Collins and now Collins Aerospace) has been around since 1933. Like the vast majority
of U.S. companies during the World War II era, they - management and employees -
took great pride in doing their part for the war effort. Unlike today, when a relatively
few people actually know someone on active duty in the armed forces, workers were
very likely to have a brother, son, father, or husband in the service. Here is an
advertisement that I scanned out of my copy of the April 1945 QST magazine.
It mentions that many of the employees are amateur radio operators. During the war...
Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative
and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all over the world. Copper
Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor
Vector Network Analyzers
include an RF measurement module and a software application which runs on any Windows
PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware via USB interface.
The result is a lower cost, faster, more effective test process that fits into the
modern workspace in lab, production, field and secure testing environments. 50 Ω
and 75 Ω models are available, along with a full line of precision calibration
and connector adaptors.
Wednesday the 22nd
 RACEP (Random Access and Correlation for
Extended Performance), was an early form of
frequency hopping spread spectrum (HFSS) devised by the Martin Company (now
Lockheed-Martin). It was used for secure voice communications and worked by sampling
speech in small "slices" and then transmitting each slice modulated onto a carrier
whose frequency was determined by a predetermined sequence of center frequencies.
A receiver with a matching sequence key would then decode the speech and, with appropriate
filtering, reassemble it into its original content. President John F. Kennedy had
such systems at his disposal whether on the road or in the Oval Office. General
Electric (GE) had a different idea it dubbed "Phantom"...
 Innovative Power Products'
IPP-5032 and IPP-5033 (Patent-Pending) are surface mount, single-ended impedance
transformers engineered to reduce the size and complexity of board-level impedance
matching networks. These products transform real impedances from 50 Ω to 25 Ω
(IPP-5032) or to 12.5 Ω (IPP-5033). Despite their small footprints - 0.55"
x 0.50" for the IPP-5032 and 0.55" x 0.60" for the IPP-5033 - both models deliver
a power handling capacity of 100 Watts (CW). View product specs, mounting footprints
and S-Parameters for these products at IPP-5032 and IPP-5033...
 These three
electronics-themed comics appeared in the November 1961 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine. I have to admit to not quite "getting" the one on page 80. The 6BR8
vacuum tube is a triode-pentode, meaning it had both a single grid (triode) and
a triple grid (pentode) amplifier contained within the same envelope. They share
a common heater element, but have separate, isolated cathodes. Maybe you need to
have lived through the era to know the insider's joke. The page 52 comic is
one you can relate to if you have ever needed to pull a hot tube from a socket...
 ConductRF is continually innovating and
developing new and improved solutions for RF Interconnect needs. See the latest
TESTeCON RF Test Cables
for labs. ConductRF makes production and test coax cable assemblies for amplitude
and phased matched VNA applications as well as standard & precision RF connectors.
Over 1,000 solutions for low PIM in-building to choose from in the iBwave component
library. They also provide custom coax solutions for applications where some standard
just won't do. A partnership with Newark assures fast, reliable access. Please visit
ConductRF today to see
how they can help your project!
Tuesday the 21st
 Here are three new circuit puzzlers in the
"What's Your EQ?" section of the October 1963 Radio-Electronics magazine.
All three are as applicable today as they were then, since none involve outdate
technology like vacuum tubes. The first one involves a 3-phase motor fed by a 3-Ø,
220 V line source. My answer differs from the creator's in that I assumed maybe
the source change was from a 3-Ø wye transformer to a 3-Ø delta transformer, thus
depriving the photocell circuit local step-down transformer of a true ground-referenced
neutral point, as a wye has. In a wye line supply for 3-Ø, 220 V, the potential
between any phase and neutral/ground is 220/√3 = 127 V. That is close enough...
Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative
and robust RF test and measurement solutions for engineers all over the world. Copper
Mountain's extensive line of unique form factor
Vector Network Analyzers
include an RF measurement module and a software application which runs on any Windows
PC, laptop or tablet, connecting to the measurement hardware via USB interface.
The result is a lower cost, faster, more effective test process that fits into the
modern workspace in lab, production, field and secure testing environments. 50 Ω
and 75 Ω models are available, along with a full line of precision calibration
and connector adaptors.
 This
Electronics Metals Quiz appeared in the October 1964 edition of Popular
Electronics magazine. Given the era and obsolescence of some technologies,
a couple of the drawings might not be recognizable to you. Accordingly, I feel obligated
to clue you in on those. "B" is a television iconoscope, which was used in early
TV video cameras. "D" is a phonograph stylus. For "F," keep in mind the prevailing
semiconductor material at the time. "I" is a type of heater element that could be
screwed into a light bulb socket (I used to have a couple). "J" is supposed...
 "Engineers from the University of Glasgow
are teaming up with colleagues from the Tyndall National Institute's Wireless Communications
Laboratory (WCL) for a project, called
Active intelligent Reconfigurable surfaces for 6G wireless COMmunications, or
AR-COM. Together with key industry partners, they will work to improve the design
of smart materials called intelligent reconfigurable surfaces (IRS) which are expected
to play a key role in the ultrafast 6G wireless networks of the future. AR-COM is
supported by £1 Million in funding from the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC)..."
 For your convenience, everythingPE (Power
Engineering) has created a very nice
online app for identifying resistors by their color codes. The color bands on
a resistor are used to represent the resistance value, tolerance, and sometimes
the temperature coefficient of the resistor. These color bands follow a standardized
color code to help identify the resistor's characteristics. The number of color
bands on a resistor can vary, but most commonly, you will find resistors with either
four or five bands (and sometimes a sixth). Our calculator works with all three
varieties...
 This story in the April 1955 issue of
Radio & Television News magazine might be the first public disclosure
of Bell Telephone Laboratories'
flexible waveguide design. Operating at 50 GHz, the new waveguide will
replace hundreds of existing coaxial cables that can each carry only 600 telephone
channels and two television channels. It can also increase the distance between
amplifiers from 12 miles to 50 miles. Construction consists of a hollow flexible
tube lined with a spiral winding of copper wire. Incidentally, the lower cutoff
frequency...
Monday the 20th
 We
take for granted today that we are able to legally use radio control systems without
obtaining an
operator's license, but that has only been the case since the late 1970s. Prior
to that, a Citizens Radio Station License needed to be procured from the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). No examination was required, but a fee was charged.
I think mine cost something like $5. FCC Part 15 rules permitted license-free
operation in designated frequency bands then as it does now, with a limit on maximum
power output for both intentional and unintentional...
 "As
we march toward 2030, the relentless demand for wireless data is reshaping the landscape
of connectivity. Meeting this demand requires a well-orchestrated strategy to secure
new spectrum and optimize existing bands. The
success of 6G, with commercial deployments expected to start around 2030, hinges
on the timely availability of spectrum. Given the complexity of the spectrum allocation
process, initiating activities to ensure spectrum readiness for 6G are imperative
and cannot be delayed..."
 Robert Radford's (not to be confused with
Robert Redford) "Electromaze"
is a unique - and weird - sort of word puzzle that appeared in the April 1966 issue
of Popular Electronics magazine. You will probably want to print out the maze grid
and find an old guy who should still have a pencil stowed away somewhere you can
borrow to use for filling in the boxes. Note that in my opinion the answer given
for clue number 2 is technically wrong. What say you?
 "NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) and the historic Mount Wilson Observatory in California appear to be unscathed
by the Eaton fire burning through Pasadena and Altadena - for now. However, over
150 JPL employees have lost their homes, said the center's director Laurie Leshin
in a post on X on Friday morning. The center lies in the foothills of Pasadena,
within the Eaton fire's mandatory evacuation zone. The Eaton fire, which has burned
14,000 acres and 5,000 structures as of Friday afternoon, is one of several fires
raging in the L.A. region this week amid dangerously high winds and dry conditions..."
 Sometime around late 1977, a year or so
prior to reporting to Lackland AFB for Basic Training with plans to pursue a career
in electronics, I began boning up on my admittedly lacking electronics skills. Having
spent the past few years as an electrician, including a couple years in vocational
school, I was familiar enough with the big stuff that could easily kill me, but
I didn't know much about about electronics with its small components and low voltages.
To assist me with my goal, I purchased a couple Heathkit kits and carefully studied
all the information provided, then proceeded to assemble and test everything. My
first project was this
IM-17 Utility Solid-State Voltmeter. It was simple enough...
Friday the 17th
 The September 1966 issue of Radio-Electronics
magazine had a plethora of good News Briefs, including an item where editor Hugo
Gernsback is presented with yet another honor - this time from the International
Press Group. It's like today with Dr. Ulrich Rohde (N1UL), who, deservingly, seems
to be receiving new commendations and awards on a regular basis. In the "Famously
Wrong Technology Predictions" department, COMSAT's president, Dr. Joseph
Charyk, declared that direct satellite-to-home television broadcasting was not a
likely possibility. Sylvania's General Telephone & Electronics...
 "Scientists are making significant strides
in creating
nuclear clocks, a new frontier in ultra-precise timekeeping. Unlike optical
atomic clocks that depend on electronic transitions, nuclear clocks harness the
energy transitions within atomic nuclei. These transitions are less influenced by
external forces, offering potentially unparalleled timekeeping accuracy. Despite
their promise, nuclear clocks face steep challenges. The isotope thorium-229, essential
for these clocks, is rare, radioactive, and prohibitively expensive in the required
quantities. In a recent study published..."
 A
time domain reflectometer (TDR) is an electronic instrument designed to characterize
and locate faults in electrical transmission lines and cables. It works by sending
a fast rise-time pulse down the cable and measuring the reflected signal. The time
it takes for the signal to return, combined with its amplitude and polarity, provides
information about the location, type, and severity of faults in the line. The principle
behind the TDR is based on transmission line theory and wave reflection phenomena,
making it a cornerstone in cable diagnostics and electrical engineering. The TDR
was first conceptualized in the early 20th century as wave propagation and reflection
principles were better understood, but practical devices emerged in the mid-20th
century...
 "A massive fire broke out at a Californian
power plant early Friday morning, threatening one of the largest
battery energy storage facilities in the world. The blaze began in a building
containing lithium-ion batteries hours earlier, an official at the Monterey County
Sheriff's office told the BBC. The Moss Landing power plant was evacuated. No injuries
were reported. Officials are
not actively fighting the fire, the Monterey Sheriff
spokesperson said, and are instead
leaving the building and the batteries to burn on the advice of fire
experts. Hundreds of people have been ordered to evacuate..."
 To be honest, I don't know whether
military electronics training commands the respect in private industry that
it did back in 1982 when I separated from the USAF. If you left the military within
the last 20 years or so and care to share your experience with seeking civilian
employment, I'll be glad to add it here as a side note. Many of the electronics
technicians I worked with both as a tech myself and then as an engineer (after earning
a BSEE) got their initial classroom training in either the Air Force or the Navy.
There were probably some from the Marines and Army, but I don't recall any off-hand.
I hate to admit it, but I think the Navy vets were even more highly sought...
 Anatech Electronics offers the industry's
largest portfolio of high-performance standard and customized RF and microwave filters
and filter-related products for military, commercial, aerospace and defense, and
industrial applications up to 40 GHz. Three
new ceramic bandpass filter models have been added to the product line in January,
including a 2250 MHz ceramic bandpass filter with a bandwidth of 225 MHz,
a 2140 MHz ceramic bandpass filter with a bandwidth of 60 MHz, and a 2190 MHz
ceramic bandpass filter with a bandwidth of 40 MHz, all with insertion losses
of <2 dB...
• 24%
Growth for Semis in 2024
• EU
Probes Gorilla Glass on Smartphone Monopoly
• Plea
for AM Act Passage After Helene
• Cost Concerns &
Confusion in Broadband Market
• Touchscreens Out; Buttons &
Dials Back In (good!)
Thursday the 16th
 This is the most intense episode of John Frye's
"Carl & Jerry" series I can remember. It appeared in the January 1959 issue
of Popular Electronics magazine. There have been many adventures both before
and after this one where the electronics-obsessed teenagers assisted local police
and firefighters, and even a Fed or two occasionally. Usually, they are called upon
to find hidden evidence, track bad guys, listen in on their phone or radio conversions,
and other missions requiring high-tech methods. Other times they stumble into involvement.
In
The Little "Bug" with Big Ears," a girl has been kidnapped and the perp threatens
to rub her out if ransom...
 This is Part 3 of a 3-part series of articles
on
atomic radiation that appeared in Electronic World magazine in 1969.
It deals with measurement techniques and equipment. Shippingport Atomic Power Station,
the first full scale nuclear power plant in the United Sates, went operational in
1957. It marked the dawn of a new era of electric power generation that was filled
with grandiose predictions of limitless, non-polluting, dirt cheap power. Everything
was going to be powered by electricity - air heating and cooling, lighting, automobiles,
refrigeration, cooking, water heating. Atomic power was going to be a figurative
and almost literal beating of swords into ploughshares as the destructive energy...
 Transcat | Axiom Test Equipment, has published
a new blog post that covers how
AC Power Sources are able to support AC/DC power testing according to numerous
industrial and military standards. These power sources are available with software
to coordinate standards-based AC/DC power testing with single-, two-, and three-phase
power supplies. Industrial standards such as IEC 61000-4-11 and IEC 61000-4-13 from
the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and military standards such
as MIL-STD-704 are just a few of the solid guidelines for AC power testing; they
are typically programmed into the test software available for modern AC power sources.
Measurement-grade AC electrical power sources...
 While far from being an expert in the use
of hand tools and small powered shop tools, I have built enough prototypes and models
in more than six decades to have learned a fair amount about what results in success
and failure. Admittedly, there have been times when quality has been sacrificed
for the sake of cost and/or expediency. Personal safety has sometimes been risked
as well - usually for no real good reason. Luckily, I still have ten fingers, two
working eyes (although very near-sighted), and excellent hearing. Surely, you possess
none of my bad habits ;-) This article from Popular Electronics magazine
offers advice on how to properly work with PCBs...
 The
Wireless Telecom Group,
comprised of Boonton, Holzworth, and Noisecom, now a part of Maury Microwave, is
a global designer and manufacturer of advanced RF and microwave components, modules,
systems, and instruments. Serving the wireless, telecommunication, satellite, military,
aerospace, semiconductor and medical industries, Wireless Telecom Group products
enable innovation across a wide range of traditional and emerging wireless technologies.
A unique set of high-performance products including peak power meters, signal generators,
phase noise analyzers, signal processing modules, 5G and LTE PHY/stack software,
noise sources, and programmable noise generators.
Wednesday the 15th
 My guess at the solution for the "Unsquare
Waves" challenge in "What's
Your EQ" feature of the July 1964 Radio-Electronics magazine was wrong,
but would have been reasonable for a more modern oscilloscope. I thought maybe the
compensation capacitor in the o-scope probe was way out of adjustment. Since the
author provides a schematic of the oscilloscope input circuit, you will probably
spot right off what the cause of his unexpected waveform was. The other problem
is a fairly simple, first-year electronics course deal. As the title of it suggests,
you'll need to take into account the charge on each capacitor to most easily arrive
at the answer...
 "For homeowners, moisture buildup can cause
the biggest headaches. Mold grows on drywall and wood-based materials, creeping
along walls, floors and ceilings. Building materials begin to erode and rot. As
insulation becomes damaged, the home's energy-efficiency decreases. Even human health
suffers, as moisture also leads to air-quality issues. The key to preventing extensive
moisture damage is discovering it early, when it can be easily fixed. Researchers
at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using
microwave radar reflection to nondestructively detect and measure..."
 "You
get what you pay for," is an admonishment which has been around for a long time,
and it applies generally to many situations. Radio-Craft magazine editor
Hugh Gernsback took the occasion of a meeting with a successful radio repair technician
to pen this piece illustrating how it is not only the consumer who gets hurt by
low-cost hucksters. Gernsback's discussion with a for-real electronics technician
from Ohio serves as a real-world example. A fictitious Serviceman, whom he assigns
the moniker of Mr. G.O. Getter (a play on the vacuum tube term "getter"), suffers
from the bad reputation brought to his electronics...
 For your convenience, everything RF
has created the most extensive
EMC Testing Company Directory on the Internet which includes all of the leading
EMC Testing Labs from around the world. Based on your specific needs, you can use
the filters on the left-hand side to identify EMC Testing Labs based on their location
and capabilities. Further select from international approval type (CE, FCC, UKCA,
G-Mark, etc.), testing services (radiated and conducted immunity, radiated and conducted
emissions, military standards, SAR, surge testing, etc.), industry segment (electronics,
industrial, medical, etc.), services (shielding effectiveness, consultation, pre-compliance,
risk...
 This could be one of the earliest reports
of
mobile communications between a private automobile and a home base station.
Using a personally designed and installed 5-meter transceiver both at home and in
his car, Mr. Wallace is able to talk to his 12-year-old son on the way from
work. My guess is that in 1935 when this Short Wave Craft magazine article
was published there were not too many traffic jams, even in Long Beach, California,
so it is doubtful that was the cause for his announced expected later-than-normal
arrival home. The article states the automobile power supply needed to produce 300 mA
of current at 525 V, which is ~160 W...
 Please take a few moments to visit the
everythingRF website to see how they can assist you with your
project. everythingRF is a product discovery platform for RF and microwave products
and services. They currently have 333,423 products from more than 2198 companies
across 460 categories in their database and enable engineers to search for them
using their customized parametric search tool. Amplifiers, test equipment, power
couplers and dividers, coaxial connectors, waveguide, antennas, filters, mixers,
power supplies, and everything else. Please visit everythingRF today to see how
they can help you.
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